Chef Kent Rathbun’s ready to expand his food empire

2/26

Nathan Hunsinger/Staff Photographer

Chef Kent Rathbun (right) has his make-up put on by Mary Rockwood-Crabtree (far right) as Stephan Pyles (center) and Dean Fearing wait for a photo shoot at Pyles' Stampede 66 restaurant in Dallas. The local celebrity chefs were being photographed for American Way, American Airlines' in-flight magazine.

Cruising along the Dallas North Tollway at speeds befitting a neon yellow Porsche, chef Kent Rathbun plotted his next course.

The former Iron Chef America contestant continues to fine-tune Abacus, his fine-dining restaurant that opened 14 years ago in the Knox-Henderson area and marked his evolution from chef to entrepreneur. He and his business partner, Bill Hyde Jr., plan to expand Jasper’s, their three-location chain that hosted a party last week to mark the 10th birthday of the original Plano location.

Through those and other food ventures, chef Kent is working to expand Rathbun the brand, which Hyde thinks has national potential.

While hoping not to sound “braggish,” Rathbun, 52, acknowledged that “we did set out to build the brand bigger.”

“We have more people coming to us and eating at our restaurants than ever before,” he said, comparing the 1,000-plus seats at his restaurants today with the 160 he had with Abacus alone. “With serving more people in different demographics, in different cities, the brand expands. The knowledge of what you are doing expands.”

What Rathbun was doing one recent day was gamely trying to juggle three photo shoots, a video shoot for a charity auction, and a catered dinner for a well-heeled friend. Plus he had to check on his under-construction house, which boasts a TV-studio-style kitchen.

The frenetic schedule, which Rathbun said was not unusual, contributes, intentionally or by luck, to the overall goal of expanding consumer awareness of Rathbun and Kent Rathbun Concepts, the umbrella company for his food operation.

Rathbun has served the dining public in Dallas-Fort Worth since 1990, when he began working as senior sous chef for Dean Fearing at the Mansion on Turtle Creek.

Rathbun, Fearing and chef Stephan Pyles got together recently for an early-morning photo shoot for the in-flight magazine of American Airlines.

All three chefs see some benefits in diversification.

You can attract “people at different price points,” said Pyles, who formerly employed Rathbun’s younger brother, Kevin. “That might be a cookbook or a $5 taco. It’s a bigger audience, and it’s just more fun.”

Rathbun and Hyde both have an equity stake in the company, though neither would reveal the split.

Revenue in 2012 was estimated at more than $20 million, up 2.7 percent from 2011. Year to date revenue is up 4.2 percent compared with the same period in 2012, Rathbun said.

One of the company’s top priorities is to plant a Jasper’s in Dallas proper, south of 635. That could happen as soon as next year, Rathbun said.

Kent Rathbun Concepts also includes KB Woodfire Grill in Plano. That space, near Highway 121, housed a Zea Woodfire Grill, a restaurant formerly operated by Hyde. Sales were hurt by a road construction project. So the space is no longer a restaurant. It now operates as a site for private functions.

It also serves as headquarters for Kent Rathbun Catering. There’s also Kent Rathbun Elements, a small retail line of dressings, sauces, marinades and spices for the home chef that is sold at Central Market.

Kent Rathbun Concepts recently signed a licensing deal with Atlanta-based Paradies to pursue opening a Rathbun-branded restaurant in a Texas airport.

“My hope is we can be the commissary for these restaurants,” Rathbun said. “We will reach people who we wouldn’t have touched with the [existing] restaurants.”

Hyde thinks being on display before the traveling public “just reinforces that we can play in a lot of different fields.”

Charity work

Rathbun and Hyde, former chief executive of Ruth’s Chris Steak House, became partners in 2007, after the 2006 death of Rathbun’s then-partner, arts patron Robert Hoffman.

Hyde, who initially passed on purchasing Hoffman’s stake in the company, said he was eventually drawn by Rathbun’s talent and his work with several charities, including the March of Dimes.

Hours after the morning photo shoot, Rathbun hosted a March of Dimes camera crew in the 19th-floor home near NorthPark Center where his family is living until its 5,300-square-foot “good, entertainment-type home” is complete later this year.

The film crew wanted action shots, so the James Beard Best Chef: Southwest nominee whipped up a grilled cheese and chicken sandwich with truffle butter. The rotisserie chicken came from a nearby Whole Foods. Even a celebrity chef takes shortcuts sometimes.

Rathbun has worked with the March of Dimes for 17 years.

His charity work “just impressed the hell out of me,” Hyde said. “He’s very committed to helping those charities that are in need.”

That charity work, which takes him across the country, and his 2008 Iron Chef appearance helped boost his national profile, Hyde said. Rathbun also represented the Dallas Cowboys at the Taste of the NFL for 15 years.

Rathbun is hardly the first chef to diversify his way into expanded sales.

Wolfgang Puck, one of the nation’s most recognizable celebrity chefs, finds his name on everything from high-end restaurants such as Five Sixty in Dallas to frozen pizzas and cookware. Forbes magazine lists him as the third most highly paid celebrity chef ($20 million in 2012), behind only Gordon Ramsay and the perpetually perky Rachael Ray.

Fearing is coming out with a cookbook next Mother’s Day called Dean Fearing’s Texas Food Bible. And he’s had a packaged foods line for 25 years.

Fearing agrees that expansion can broaden your audience. But he notes that there are pitfalls.

“Not diluting the brand is very important,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of my chef friends multi-unit themselves into a bad situation. I think nowadays it’s getting tougher to do a celebrity chef concept if the chef is never there. People are getting wise to that.”

The revenue equation

Another hazard: All restaurants within a company may not perform at the same level.

At Kent Rathbun Concepts, where 90 percent of the revenue comes from the restaurants, Abacus remains the flagship, even if some reviewers complain that Rathbun too often plays it safe.

Jasper’s is the company’s growth vehicle.

Rathbun and Hyde called Abacus, which has earned four diamonds from AAA, a one-of-a-kind restaurant that will not be duplicated.

“For 14 years they’ve been executing at such a high level there we just felt it wouldn’t be fair to try to replicate that,” Hyde said. Also, he noted, “the fine-dining target audience is dwindling. Therefore [we] felt we had much greater flexibility and growth opportunity with a Jasper’s concept and also feel the same way about Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen.

“We can probably replicate those in various parts of the country. And focus those against the target audience that we want,” Hyde said.

At Abacus, where customers dine on sesame-chive-crusted Copper River salmon or hickory-grilled Cervena venison, the average check is $100.

“Jasper’s is a $40 check average,” Hyde said. “Right away you can recognize the different demographic that we appeal to.”

Based on state data on alcohol sales, Jasper’s boasts the highest revenue among the three D-FW restaurants, followed by Abacus, followed at some distance by Blue Plate, the only Rathbun restaurant to carry the Rathbun name.

Rathbun, who attracted almost no notice from the patrons when he arrived there recently, called Blue Plate his most underappreciated restaurant.

“We feel very good about the restaurant’s positioning,” Hyde said. “We recognize we’ve got to drive more guest counts through there. It does not have the volume levels that Jasper’s and Abacus have.”

Hyde insists that the company won’t open new locations or ventures unless a deal makes sense. “We’re privately owned, so we can do what the hell we want, when we want.”

And Rathbun, who sports a U-Boat watch with a face the size of a dessert plate, concedes that evolution takes time.

At about age 21, Rathbun predicted that by age 30, he’d have his own restaurant. Abacus opened six months after his 38th birthday.

“I didn’t make that,” Rathbun said. “But I wasn’t far off.”

Follow Karen Robinson-Jacobs on Twitter at @krobijake.

Kent Rathbun

Age: 52

Hometown: Kansas City, Mo.

Parents: Priscilla, who was a restaurant maitre d’, and Max, a backyard grill master

Sibling: Kevin Rathbun, who is 18 months younger than Kent and owns four restaurants in the Atlanta area

First restaurant job: At 14, Kent claimed to be a year older to get a job at a local restaurant.

Spouse: Tracy Rathbun, who co-owns and operates Shinsei with Lynae Fearing, former wife of Dean Fearing

Children: Max, 10, and Garrett, 6

On fame: “I don’t know that I’m famous. Do I want to be famous? Sure. Famous helps the business. Famous puts people in the restaurant. So I can’t lie. I’d love to be famous. The celebrity that I do have is very enjoyable most of the time.”

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